Men Place Sixth, Women Eighth at The Summit League Cross Country Championships

Grant Kaiser and Madison Lefler are Western's top finishers

Overall Women Results
Overall Men Results
Women Team Results
Men Team Results

MACOMB, Ill. – The Western Illinois cross country team played host to the 2016 Summit League Cross Country Championships Saturday (Oct. 29) at Spring Lake Park in Macomb. The men finished sixth with 176 points, their best finish since 2013, while the women placed eighth with 223.

Madison Lefler was the top finisher on the women's side for Western Illinois, placing 38th with a time of 23:39.5 on the 6,000-meter course. Close behind her was freshman Nicole Beebe who crossed the finish line in 24:04.3 to place 46th. Abigail Richter placed 50th with a time of 24:13.9, followed by senior Jaclyn Finney (62nd, 26:09.3) and Stephanie Robles (64th, 26:35.7).

"On the women's side, we struggled a little bit. The lack of depth really showed," said head coach Mike Stevenson. "With having only five girls run that makes it tough, nobody can have an off day and we had a couple kids that were not up to their best game."

Grant Kaiser crossed the finish line first for the WIU men, racing to an 8,000-meter time of 26:51.5 to place 27th. Behind him was Lucas Lingle who placed 36th overall with a time of 27:48.3. Brady Hunt (42nd, 28:10.4), Corey Thompsen (43rd, 28:30.3) and Ross Smetzer (46th, 28:42.5) also scored points for the Purple and Gold. Keiffer Sexton (50th) and Mark Kouchoukos (53rd) rounded out the competition for Western, racing to times of 29:21.7 and 29:48, respectively.

"The men ran pretty well for the kids that we have and where we're at for our program. They ran well and we moved up in the standings from last year, which was our goal to be better than we were last year. We had a lot of kids that ran well and well enough to move us up a notch so we're happy with the outcome overall," added Stevenson.

The men finished ahead of Oral Roberts who had 196 points and behind Fort Wayne who scored 138. The women finished behind ORU who had 187 points.

"It's a big undertaking and kudos to my staff and the folks around that do all the work because it's a lot of hard work," said Stevenson on hosting the Championships. "The park staff at Spring Lake is amazing and they do so much for us and the Physical Plant that comes out and paints and bring their equipment out, everything went really well. It's an honor to host and we want to make sure we put on a good show and we were happy with the outcome."

South Dakota claimed the team title on the women's side with 43 points, while South Dakota State took the men's title with 25 points.

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Players Mentioned

Jaclyn Finney: DISTANCE; Senior; Washington Community

Madison Lefler: DISTANCE; Senior; Canton

Nicole Beebe: DISTANCE; Freshman; Canton

Abigail Richter: DISTANCE; Freshman; Triad

Stephanie Robles: DISTANCE; Freshman; Belvidere North

Grant Kaiser: DISTANCE; Junior; Glenwood

Lucas Lingle: DISTANCE; Sophomore; Canton

Ross Smetzer: DISTANCE; Freshman; St. Joseph-Ogden

Keiffer Sexton: DISTANCE; Freshman; Highland Community School

Corey Thompsen: DISTANCE; Junior; St. Joseph-Ogden / Danville Area CC

Brady Hunt: DISTANCE; Senior; Marimon Academy

Players Mentioned

Jaclyn Finney
: Senior; Washington Community
: DISTANCE

Madison Lefler
: Senior; Canton
: DISTANCE

Nicole Beebe
: Freshman; Canton
: DISTANCE

Abigail Richter
: Freshman; Triad
: DISTANCE

Stephanie Robles
: Freshman; Belvidere North
: DISTANCE

Grant Kaiser
: Junior; Glenwood
: DISTANCE

Lucas Lingle
: Sophomore; Canton
: DISTANCE

Ross Smetzer
: Freshman; St. Joseph-Ogden
: DISTANCE

Keiffer Sexton
: Freshman; Highland Community School
: DISTANCE

Corey Thompsen
: Junior; St. Joseph-Ogden / Danville Area CC
: DISTANCE

Brady Hunt
: Senior; Marimon Academy
: DISTANCE